Wheel.



R. R. GRIFFITH.

I WHEEL.

APPLICATION FILED MAYZ5| I915.

Patnted J une 4, 1918.

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7 '0 all whom/it may concemj Be it known that I, RALPH R; GRIFFITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented cer tain new and useful Improvements in Wheels, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to wheels andhas for an object to provide aflangedrim and hub connected by a web memberformed out of a single sheet of metalby cutting "sets of inwardly-projecting and outwardly-projecting radial arms out of the sheet without waste of material and alternately bending the arms away from the sheet and securing them to the flanges of the hub andrim. Thefull objects and adVanta-ges ofmy invention. will appear in, connection ,with the detailed description thereof and are par ticularly pointed out in the claims. a f In the drawings, illustrating the applicationof my invention in one orm f Figure lis a front elevational view of my improved wheel. Fig. 2 is a sectional view cured to it by a web member now to be described. A sheet of metal is first cut into a circular disk of a diameter somewhat greater than the inner diameter of the rim 10 and is then punched at the center to pro vide a circular hole of a diameter somewhat less than the external diameter of the hub 12. On a circle midway between the outer and inner circumferences of this sheet is punched a number of small holes 14: of which there must be an even number spaced equidistantly. The sheet is then sheared along radial lines to the holes 14, first along lines 15 from the outside of the plate to every other hole, and secondly along lines 16 from the inner circumference to the remaining holes. In this manner a number of arms 17, 18,19 and 20are formed, of which the arms 17 and 18 project radially outward from the sheet and have diverging Specification l l'letters latent. a a v Appiication filed ifay 2 5, 1915b Serial No. 99,743."

Patented rim i, 1918.

sides, and of which the arms 19'and 20 project radially inward and have converging sides. Of the outwardly-projecting arms each alternate arm 17 is bent away from the sheet in the same direction and is riveted to one of the flanges 11 of the rim 10 and the remaining outwardly-projecting arms 18 are bent in the opposite direction and riveted to the other flange 21 of the rim 10; fSimilarly, the alternate inwardly-pro jecting arms 19 and 20 are bent away from the sheetin oppositedirections and riveted to the flanges 13 and 23 of thehub 12. In this manner the central member issecured to both flanges of the rim and hub and hence rigidly holds the same in their proper relations.

As illustrated in Fig.3,my invention is readily applicable to a split pulley in which thehub 12 is split, as indicated at 30 and 31, along one of the radial lines of cleavage-of the inner portion of plate. The plate17 is out across, as indicated at 32 and 33, from cut-out portions 34; and 35 on said radial lines to cuts 15 which are numbered 36 and 37 andwhich are also in a common radial line. The rim-1Q is severed in the line of saidlast named radial cuts, asindicated at 38, andone endisprovidedwitlra lip39 which eXtendsbeneath *a flange 40 on the other end. Lugs 41' and-12 on the respective areadaptedio' receive bolts 43 by a which the. pulley is clamped inposition.

The advantages of my invention are mania fest. The wheel can be constructed entirely out of sheet steel and will hence be of great strength and can be made-With simple tools. Due to the yielding nature of the arms before they are secured, the sheet metal member may be readily placed between the hub and the rim. The wheel is perfectly trussed in all directions on account of the double sets of triangles formed by the arms and will hence tend to remain true.

I claim:

1. A wheel comprising a rim, a hub and a sheet metal member connecting said rim and hub, alternate inner portions of said member being secured to opposite sides of said hub and alternate outer portions of said member being secured to opposite sides of said rim.

2. A wheel comprising a rim, a hub and a sheet metal member connecting said rim and hub, said member having a plurality of inrections and secured Copies of this patent maybe obtained for ner sections bent alternately in opposite directions and secured to said hub andsaid member also having a plurality of outer sections bent alternately" in opposite directions and secured to opposite sides of said I'lIIl. l

3. A wheel comprising a rim, a hub and a sheet metal member connecting said rim and hub, said member having a plurality ofin: ner sections defined by cuts extending from the hub toward the rim with alternate sections bent in opposite directions and secured to said hub, and saidmember also having a plurality of outer sections defined by cuts extending from the rim toward the hub with alternate sectionsbent in opposite dito opposite sides of said rim. i e

4:. A wheel comprising a flanged rim, a

vflanged hub, and acentral member formed of sheet metal having one set of outwardlyprojecting arms cutout of the body of the metal and alternately secured to the flanges of the rim and another set of inwardly-projecting arms out out of the body of the metal and alternately secured to the flanges of the hub.

5. Awheel comprising .a rim, a hub and a .sheet metal member connecting said rim and hub, said member having a plurality of arms defined by cuts extending in radial lines from the circumference substantially half way to the inner margin'with alternate arms bent in opposite directions and secured to said rim and said member also having a plurality of armsdefined by cuts extending in radial lines from the inner margin substantially half way tothe circumferencein staggered relation to said first named cuts with alternate arms bent in opposite directions and secured to said hub.

6. A wheel comprising a flanged rim, a flanged hub, and a central'member formed out of an annular disk of sheet metal by cutting the sheet in a number of radial lines I Washington, 1). ch

from the circumference half-way into the disk and without loss of material and alternately bending outward in opposite directions the arms thus formed and securing them to the flanges of the rim and by cutting the sheet in a number of radial lines from the inner margin half-way in to the disk in staggered relation to SitlCl firstnamed, cuts without loss of material and alternately bending the arms thus formed outwardly in opposite directions and securing them to the flanges of the hub.

7. A pulley wheel comprising a rim and hub, and having a central member formed of sheet metal with arms out out of the body of sheet metal and secured to the rim and.

hub, said hub beingsplit on opposite sides along the radial lines of cleavage for some of said arms, and the rim being split at one side on a radial line of cleavage, and means for securing together-the cleft portions of the hub and rim.

8. Apulley wheel comprising a rim and hub and a central member consisting of a diskof sheet metal having arms formed by cutting the sheet in a number of radial join the said outer and inner radial lines of cleavage, and means for securing the opul- ,ley sections together.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

v e, v RALPH R. GRIFFITH.

Witnesses: I e e M "Jon. E STASKA,

F. A.;WH1TELnY,

five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents, 

